Small Country Big Passion

Trinidad And Tobago's First Trip To The World Cup Has The Twin-island Nation In A State Of Soccer Hysteria

June 6, 2006|By Doreen Hemlock Staff writer

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — Soccer mania is gripping this Caribbean nation of 1.3 million people, the smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup.

At the airport, souvenir shops offer T-shirts lauding the national team, some proclaiming "Trini Pride" and "We Goin' Germany," the site for the world's most watched sports event, which begins Friday.

On the highway to the capital, a plaza features two-story-high figures of soccer players to celebrate the national team, one of only 32 worldwide to qualify for the Cup.

At a hotel, front desk clerk Kevin Modeste, when asked about soccer, proudly displayed a tattoo to honor the squad. Modeste etched the map of his twin-island nation into his arm, even before the team won its final qualifier against Bahrain. Friends told Modeste he would be sorry for life if the players didn't make the Cup.

Radio stations and music concerts also stoke the fever. Songs abound to extol the "Soca Warriors," the national team named for the popular soul-calypso music known as soca. "Win or lose, I'm a fighter. I'm a Soca Warrior," sings Maximus Dan, a dancehall/soca star.

At this year's International Soca Monarch competition, singer-songwriter Iwer George placed third with a rousing performance of We Reach, about making it to Germany. His performance at the packed National Stadium included dancers in soccer uniforms, as well as players from the Soca Warriors team.

On the soccer field, the fever reaches new heights. Youth team member Judah Hernandez, who was raised in Orlando and played last semester for Florida International University, said his life has been transformed since Trinidad & Tobago qualified. He's been recruited to play for a pro team in Belgium. And he tried, but failed, to land a spot on the Soca Warriors so he could fulfill his dream to play for his homeland in a World Cup.

"When the team beat Bahrain, I was crying. I was watching the game on Miami TV in Spanish, not even in English, and my girlfriend, all she did was jump with me. I was going crazy," said Hernandez, 19.

Lincoln Phillips, technical director for the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation, said he has set new goals for the country in soccer: Get teams qualified in all international tournaments in all age groups and categories, not just the World Cup.

Phillips had been living in the United States for 36 years when he was called back home to strengthen the "development side" of the sport. In the States, Phillips played professional soccer before becoming a coach at Howard University and later the Prince William Soccer Club in Virginia.

Now, he's working to standardize coaching methods and build a structure of teams for all age groups to nurture talent. And he's helping develop a long-term business plan, including sponsorships for the local professional league and the national teams.

"Long ago, we looked at sport as play," said Phillips, 64. "Now, we know it's a business."

Players on the Soca Warriors team, and their families, say they are stopped on the streets for autographs and flooded with attention like never before.

"It's been hectic," said defender Atiba Charles, 28, who plays for the local pro team W Connection, earning about $2,000 a month. "There are interviews, functions. They're always wanting you to do something. ... Before, you were an ordinary person."

Gail Lawrence, 50, whose son David scored the winning goal against Bahrain, said she prayed for the Warriors to win.

In the final match, with the score 0-0 at the half, she went into the bathroom, the quietest room in her house, and recalls saying, "Lord, I never asked you for anything before. But I'm asking for something big -- one time. And not for the sake of my son, but for the sake of the country, because right now we need this more than ever."

When the goal came, she ran downstairs, screaming with joy but unaware of who had scored. Then, her younger son told her that David scored the goal.

"I was jumping up and down in the yard and just shaking my head and saying, `O Lord, we're going to Germany,'" she recalled.

Even the country's tourism authorities are mobilizing with the soccer fever.

The Tourism Ministry launched a Web site, www.socawarriorstt.com, complete with travel information, videos and photographs of local sights, sounds and festivals. It also will feature the soccer theme in upcoming promotions in the United Kingdom, Germany and in Trinidadian communities in South Florida, New York and elsewhere.

The slogan for the push: "Small Country, Big Passion," said Jason Baptiste, director of marketing.

"We definitely saw the great feeling the Reggae Boyz brought when Jamaica went to the World Cup" in 1998, becoming the first English-speaking Caribbean nation to qualify for the World Cup, Baptiste said. "We know this is a fantastic opportunity."

Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009.